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Sunday, February 13, 2005

The Day of Hearts

My early Valentine's Day yesterday ended up a mix bag of emotions. It started rather early with very discouraging job fair. The fair was hosted by an association of independent schools, and featured about 50 schools throughout Maryland. Despite the literature posted by the association, I came away feeling pretty unqualified for what the schools were looking for. Of course, most were after teachers in Math and Science and didn't want to bother talking to a writing guy like me.

After that, though, things improved. Anonymous L and I made a trip to the Visionary Museum for their new exhibit called Holy H2O. If you've never been there, all the works exhibited are Visionary or Naive Art. In broad terms, it simply means artists who are untrained. Often times the artists involved are working out odd frustrations and obessions, in some cases creating very powerful work. This exhibit, not surprisingly, focused on work inspired by water. Paintings of storms, fountains created out of bric-a-brac, and boats made out of toothpicks are just a few of the highlights. It's also the first time I've been there since the expansions, so it was interesting to see what they've done with their new space. They've added a lot of classroom/activity room areas, and I can easily see school kids having a great time with their programs.

That night, though, was the highlight. We went to a campy burlesque-style show called Trixie Little & The Evil Hate Monkey's Valentine's Day Cabaret.

Really.

I'm not kidding.

Trixie's a self-dubbed burlesque superheroine defending the world from the evil of the tap dancing Evil Hate Monkey. It was an odd mix of dance, acrobratic tricks, pasties, volcanoes, and goofy performance art. The humor's very Baltimore, so not for everyone. But worth it if you appreciate a little bizarre camp served with your humor. Definitely a fun way to celebrate that most fabricated of holidays.

3 comments:

Other than the job fair, which sounds discouraging (and unfortunately, I do believe about the emphasis on math and science, two things I can't say I enjoy much), it sounds like you had a great day! Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey sounds like a complete hoot!

The most fabricated of holidays... heh. What a good description. My roommate went to Tiffany to look for a baby gift for her sister and said the place was jam-packed. I couldn't figure it out and then we were like... oh yeah... Valentines Day. Whew!

Hey, was that at the 14-Karat Cabaret? I think they just started up again after a hiatus. I'm really excited that we also have a lot of art on our calendar in the next few months (the slideshow exhibit at the BMA, the Dali show in Philly, and the new AVAM show).

It was actually at the Patterson, as part of the Creative Alliance. Looks like they have a lot of cool things coming up, too.

Yep. Lots of cool art stuff going on. I'm even toying with the idea of catching a train to NY to see Cristo's remaking of Central Park. It's only there two weeks, though. So I don't know if I'll make it.

About Me

"It's strange," Hebdomeros was thinking, "as for me, the very idea that something had escaped my understanding would keep me awake at nights, whereas people in general are not in the least perturbed when they see or read or hear things they find completely obscure".